Ennik Estates is the exclusive affiliate of the $100-billion sales-a-year Christie's International Real Estate - the London-based global luxury property arm of the world's largest and oldest fine art auction house.
"It is a fact that many incoming tourists take time off to enquire about investment in residential property in South Africa - a country which The Telegraph (London) listed less than a year ago as one of the world's top 10 property safe havens.
"If just 2% of our first quarter visitors took a serious look at South African residential property during their stay, they would have generated 44 000 firm enquiries. It would take only a 2,3% conversion of those enquiries to produce 1 000 sales," says Ennik.
"No. Not if you consider the continued sentiment-sapping fall-out from the euro debt crisis, the persistence of the economic slowdown in developed countries generally and, now, the further plunge in confidence in world banking following the Libor rates scandal in the UK," says Ennik.
"Northern Hemisphere investors are seeking new, and safer, destinations for their money, and South African real estate is a good option - particularly for those who are already corporately involved in the growth in sub-Saharan Africa, and are using South Africa as their gateway.
"This could be a key factor behind the rise of almost 10% (to 133 729) in the number of UK visitors in the first quarter, as well as the increases of 16% and 15% respectively in arrivals from the US and Germany," he says.
What also jumps out of the latest tourism stats is a strong uptick in visits to SA from fellow Brics countries Brazil (up 71,7%); China (67,7%); and India (23,1%).
"This ties in with the Christie's view that the Brics countries are one of the world arenas of future (homes market) growth - with a focus on bi-directional referrals.
"Once the current, unsettling, political uncertainty in South Africa is laid to rest, at the ANC's meeting in Mangaung in December, many wait-and-see foreign investors will hopefully not only bump up our tourism rates even further but will also become owners of residential property in SA," Ennik says.
